Dorota Sieroń

In Creativity as the source of culture

The author presents Miłosz as a poet and essayist, but above all as a writer who feels responsible for the sphere of Polish culture; engaged in promoting Polish writers abroad (through translating them into English) and creating a history of Polish literature for foreigners, which exerted an undoubted impact on the reception of Polish literature abroad. She also presents Miłosz as someone who was securing grants for Polish artists and scholars as well as translators of books addressed to the Polish reader. But also as an organiser of cultural projects, such as poetry evenings, his own meetings with readers and international projects, for example, the “Meetings of Poets” in Krakow, which he hosted. Miłosz as portrayed in this article is not only a writer involved in the promotion of literature, but also a chronicler of cultural events.
The youthful period (1931–1939) was particularly rich in journalistic writings. The author focused on one event – the World Congress of Writers in Defence of Culture (Paris 1935), in which the poet took part and wrote an account of it (Na zjeździe antyfaszystów [At an anti-Fascist Convention ]). The poet’s opinion on the anti-Fascist congress becomes a pretext for asking the question about the role and meaning of cultural congresses.

RETURN IN ORDER TO REMEMBER… ANNA FENBY TAYLOR AND THE ZOFIA KOSSAK FOUNDATION
The authors talk with Anna Fenby Taylor, granddaughter of Zofia Kossak-Szatkowska, the Polish writer. Anna Fenby Taylor is one of the initiators of the Zofi a Kossak Foundation in Górki Wielkie. She was born and raised in Britain, where she graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of London. However, for several years she has been a more frequent visitor to Górki Wielkie (Cieszyn Silesia region) rather than to her English home. Her strong will to save the legacy of her grandparents, the life and work of Zofia Kossak, the desire to rebuild from ruins the Kossaks’ eighteenth-century mansion made her decide along with her husband to renovate and hand it over to cultural and tourist needs. Anna Fenby Taylor tells about the history of the place and the stages which had led to the creation of the Culture and Art Center “Dwór Kossaków” (The Kossak Mansion) in this place.

ZBIGNIEW HERBERT IN THE CONTEXT OF CONGRESS DILEMMAS ON MASS AND ELITE CULTURE
The author considers one of the issues discussed during the VI Congress of Polish Culture (September 23–25, 2009). The first part constitutes a report on conference proceedings and an attempt to answer the question whether culture should be addressed to the masses or whether it should be elitist? In the second part of the paper, the author attempts to answer the above question by referring to the thought of Zbigniew Herbert – poet and essayist.
The author of this article proposes two types of culture (distinguished on the basis of previous arguments). The first  is the intellectual culture (creative), the second is the integral culture (relational). Both together make up the common culture, understood in the broadest sense. The both of them could be developed by the proper cultural policy of the state.

W niniejszym artykule pragnę się zająć kwestią tożsamości instytucji, zastanowić się nad tym, co znaczy być „domem dla kultury”, czy zasadne jest myślenie o instytucji prowadzącej działalność kulturalną jako o podmiocie kultywującym wartości związane z ideą „domowości”.
Nowa sytuacja ustrojowa, jaka nastała po 1989 roku, zmieniła ramy strukturalne i sposób funkcjonowania podmiotów prowadzących działalność kulturalną. Nowe czasy przejawiły się m.in. w nazewnictwie: dawne domy kultury przemianowano na centra kultury, ośrodki animacji. Warto się zastanowić, czy słusznie zanegowano koncepcję „domu dla kultury”, uznając ją za wymysł i symbol minionego półwiecza, z pominięciem tych odniesień, które wiążą się z domem społecznym – ukształtowanym w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego modelem placówki kulturalnej.